Preclinical R&D Scientist - Drug Development

About the job

Mercor connects elite creative and technical talent with leading AI research labs. Headquartered in San Francisco, our investors include Benchmark, General Catalyst, Peter Thiel, Adam D'Angelo, Larry Summers, and Jack Dorsey.

Position: Preclinical R&D Expert – In-house Drug Development
Type:Contract
Compensation:$60–$100/hour
Location:Remote
Commitment:10 hours/week

Role Responsibilities

• Review technical materials and real-world R&D data in your area of expertise.
• Label, classify, and annotate scientific data and model outputs to improve model performance.
• Provide expert perspective on key scientific and development decisions, including target/modality selection and optimization.
• Help define structure and quality standards for the client's dataset pipeline.
• Participate in expert discussions, interviews, and research engagements.
• Interface directly with the client team to ensure alignment and progress.

Qualifications

Must-Have

• Hands-on, non-administrative preclinical R&D experience at a company developing its own drug assets.
• Experience in core R&D functions: discovery biology, medicinal chemistry, protein/antibody engineering, computational, in vivo/translational, pharmacology/PK-PD, toxicology, or CMC/formulation.
• Hands-on experience with one or more drug modalities: small molecules, monoclonal antibodies, peptides, ADCs, bispecifics, mRNA, siRNA, ASOs, PROTACs, molecular glues, cell therapies, gene therapies, radioligand therapies, etc.
• 5+ years of relevant industry R&D experience.

Preferred

• Experience taking a program through lead optimization or IND-enabling/preclinical development.
• Experience at mid-sized, emerging, or resource-constrained biotech, ideally outside the top-20 pharmaceutical companies.

Application Process (Takes 20–30 mins to complete)

• Upload resume
• AI interview based on your resume
• Submit form

Resources & Support

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PS: Our team reviews applications daily. Please complete your AI interview and application steps to be considered for this opportunity.